Tom Keefe

Spirited Communication

Category: faith (Page 1 of 2)

Book Review: The Sacredness of Secular Work

July 23, 2024 /

This was the prevailing view when I was growing up of what eternity in heaven would be like: We would all float around on clouds playing harps.

No wonder why so many weren’t excited about going there. It seemed so boring!

Imagine my excitement when reading Jordan Raynor’s book, “The Sacredness of Secular Work.”

In his book, Raynor clearly connects the purpose and importance of our work today with our purpose and place in heaven for eternity. In doing so, he gave me an “aha” moment just as powerful as the opening line of, “The Purpose Driven Life.” (Remember, “It’s not about you.”?)

Raynor aligns with the Faith and Work Movement, which serves Christians in corporate campuses as one of the largest global networks of workplace fellowships. F&WM serves more than 135 of the largest publicly traded companies through networks in strategic cities, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco. Silicon Valley, Singapore, Manila, and Dublin.

The F&WM site states, “We exist to positively impact companies that impact the world and to help Christians in the marketplace to bring their best self to work. We do this by honoring God at work, encouraging one another, loving our coworkers the way Jesus would if he had our jobs, and praying for companies, leaders, each other, and our cities.”

Raynor stays true to the purpose of the F&WM by combining research, scripture and storytelling to show how our individual and collective work honors God now. But he goes further by laying out a case that:

  • Your work matters for eternity even when you aren’t using it to directly advance the Great Commission (“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”—Matthew 28:19-20 (New International Version)
  • In fact, the Great Commission isn’t the only commission, and it wasn’t the first commission!

After outlining five problems with making the Great Commission our only commission, Raynor summarizes what he terms, “The Abridged Gospel”: “The gospel is the good news that Jesus came to save people from their sins.”

But read how much more expansive and exciting our promised eternal future sounds when Raynor states it as “The Unabridged Gospel”:

God created a perfect world and invited his children to rule over it with him and for him. We sinned, ushering in the curse that broke every part of that perfect creation, ensuring our need for a Savior. Jesus’ resurrection proved emphatically that he is that Savior who saves us by grace through faith. And while we’re not saved by our works, we have been saved for the good works he prepared for us to do all along: partnering with him to cultivate heaven on earth until he returns to finish the job. Then the triune God will finally dwell with us again on a New Earth, where we will rule with him for ever and ever.

That plays out for each of us as uniquely as our gifts, passions and experiences.

I recommend, “The Sacredness of Secular Work.” By the way, its subtitle is, “4 Ways Your Job Matters for Eternity (Even When You’re Not Sharing the Gospel).” The book renewed my desire to honor God daily in the work put before me—and I hope you also find it meaningful and motivational.

“The Sacredness of Secular Work,” by Jordan Raynor. (c) 2024. Published by WaterBrook.

I’m so glad that God is not a genie in a bottle!

May 7, 2024 /

Wishful Thinking

Who hasn’t read or heard the story of Aladdin and the magic genie? Rubbing an old lamp released the genie who granted Aladdin three wishes. In the 1992 Disney animated movie version, the genie explained to Aladdin the three provisos:

  •  Genie can’t kill anyone.
  •  Genie can’t make people fall in love. 
  • Genie can’t bring anyone back from the dead

A Google search included this related answer regarding the general “rules” for all wishful thinking:

  • You cannot receive more wishes than you were originally allotted. Some genies, or leprechauns or magic spirits give one wish, or two, even if the standard is three.
  • No creating or ending life .
  • You cannot effect free will.

In my younger years, I daydreamed about what I would wish for if I had been given the chance. Wishing got a little more complicated when I reached my teenaged years and made some bad choices.

I didn’t have a genie but I did have an incorrect view of God. Anyone else ever make a “foxhole prayer”? “Oh God, if you get me out of this I will NEVER/ALWAYS…”

I knew I couldn’t rub a lamp and make God give me what I thought I needed. But I thought I could convince God to do my bidding. Surprisingly, sometimes circumstances did work out the way I wished. At those times did I then remember my vow to “NEVER/ALWAYS…”? No.

When I was 23 years old, I stood next to a hospital bed where my sister, Annette, lay dying of cancer. I and a lot of people had prayed and prayed that her cancer would be cured. But it got progressively worse.

I thought about the TV preachers who said crazy things like, “In the name of Jesus, evil spirits come OUT!” They seemed to fix the people who then fainted from relief or terror. “Maybe Jesus (God) would fix Annette,” I thought.

Feeling self-conscious because my faith was very weak, I held Annette’s hand as she lay sleeping. “Jesus, please make the cancer disappear,” I said. But I didn’t feel anything mystical, nothing seemed different. And a few days later, Annette died.

Something changed in me some years later as I prepared to get married. I connected with the pastor who led Kim and I in premarital counseling. Not much later I joined that church and began a journey to better understand and serve God.

Worshipful Knowing

Today, I don’t try to manipulate God’s will and purposes for me. I’ve grown that much at least! I usually pray to be shown His will for me and to direct my actions and words toward Him.

Rather than the pain and frustration that I used to feel when trying to control people, places and God, I relax in most stressful situations because I commit to trusting God and accepting what comes.

The peace I feel in tough situations is worth far more than whatever I thought I needed in the past to achieve happiness.

God is real, alive and active in and through me. No genie could ever come close to matching what I have today.

So Majestic, So Intimate

May 6, 2024 /

God: The creator of the universe. The Lord who was praised by Deborah in Judges 5:3 as she sang:

“When you, Lord, went out from Seir,
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook, the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.
5 The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

This God is so majestic and moves in such awesome power; yet he also cares for me and knows me by name.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I know the feeling of him listening to my cares and prayers, and giving me a spiritual hug. I hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit leading me to resist sin and do God’s will.

I praise the Lord who is so majestic while also being so intimately connected to me!

I don’t worship the creation

April 8, 2024 /

So much attention has been given lately to the solar eclipse happening today that it would be easy to think that the event itself is significant. It’s not.

I’m not saying that I won’t try to be outside when the eclipse is nearing totality. It will be fun to experience. I’m saying that the movement of the Earth, moon and sun that will result in this alignment was put into motion by a God who deserves the glory and honor.

I would love to know that every thrill-seeking person who will don protective eyewear and gaze into the eclipse would reflect on the majesty of the Creator. But many don’t think–or believe–that God exists or cares about them.

If that is you, I respect your feelings and beliefs. I have to say that I can’t comprehend how someone can look at this world, this universe, and see the logic in the theory that it began out of nothing, evolved into its current state by random chance, and operates unguided with a precision and logic that allows us to accurately predict events like the eclipse. How could all of that be true without a Creator putting them into place?

Today, like every day, I will worship the Creator, not the creation.

Tangled power cords

Getting Untangled

January 13, 2024 /

This week I brought in my Christmas decorations from outside my home and the power cords and timers that I used to light them at the appropriate time. I only had a short time to do that and so I piled the decorations, cords and timers on a workbench in my garage.

Today I finished packing the decorations and cords. When I looked at one 100-ft. power cord, I saw it was a tangled mess.

The cord was still functional; if I plugged it in it would provide power to whatever I plugged into the other end. But because it was tangled, it was more difficult to use. It couldn’t stretch to the distance that it was made to reach.

Isn’t that like us when we get tangled up in emotional and spiritual dilemmas? We can’t stretch ourselves to think and do some things that we are made to tackle.

Just like I had to work to untangle the power cord, we sometimes have to untangle our hurts, habits and hangups with the help of friends, family or professionals.

I felt so much better when the power cord was neatly wrapped around the holder. If you’re feeling tangled up today, use your faith, friends and family to begin loosening whatever is entangling you.

An uncluttered home, mind and soul is so freeing!

sunrise from Caitlyn Keefe's kitchen window
(c) 2024 Thomas Keefe

New Day, New Year

January 1, 2024 /

This is the view that I captured this morning from my daughter’s kitchen window in Tucson, AZ. What a magnificent image that captures the awe and excitement of the new year.

Regardless of whether or not you set resolutions for 2024, each day will bring opportunities and challenges, beauty and sorrow, activity and rest.

I’ve recently had a spiritual boost by joining a Christian church that brings a powerful worship experience and relevant sermons soaked in biblical truth. My 2024 will include intentional effort to walk closer with my Lord and to appreciate His many blessings, including sunrises and sunsets.

Happy New Day and New Year!

Summer landscape, sunset sea nature. Summer sea landscape scene. Sea sunset landscape. Summer sunny water scene in picturesque tones. Sea summer nature with mountains at the horizon - panoramic sea view

Why Not This Day?

January 1, 2021 /

January 1 of every year marks more than the beginning of a new year. For many people, it is the start of a new commitment to improve diet, fitness and/or mental/spiritual growth. It is a day to change.

I gave up New Year’s resolution long ago after growing tired of dealing with the emotional and spiritual turmoil that occurred when I inevitably gave up on whatever goal or promise I had made. I’m not disciplined enough to change most aspects of my character and habits. However decades ago, I successfully surrendered to some that were particularly damaging by using a simple set of spiritual tools available in a program of recovery.

That program focused me on living just one day at a time. It taught me not to obsess on the past or the future, and to develop a relationship with the God of my understanding. By seeking God’s will for my life and asking for the power to respond to whatever God seemed to want me to think, do or know, my life is more grounded and manageable.

I still have specific unrealized goals and dreams that stress me because they are not yet realized. The biggest one is my novel-in-progress.

The difference between what I have accomplished and what I have not is primarily the result of actions I either have or have not taken.

While I’m not making a resolution to complete the unrealized goals that remain top of mind, I have taken action on them today. I won’t worry about tomorrow until it comes.

What action can you take today to move into the will of God (or HIgher Power) if you have such a relationship?

Positive changes can come, if we work on them.

Why not this day?

Easter cross at Joy! Lutheran Church

While the World Thinks of Candy Bunnies, Or Nothing at All

April 12, 2020 /

Sunday, April 12, 2020 is just another day in COVID-19-ville for many people. For others it is the day when they can finally enjoy watching their children hunt in the home or backyard for plastic eggs filled with candy and other treats.

But for me and thousands of other disciples of Jesus Christ, today is a day to celebrate the unthinkable: The power of God unleashed to bring the glorified body of Jesus to life!

Luke 18:32-33: “He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

On Thursday, I and other believers reminded ourselves of the day Jesus was betrayed by one of his 12 disciples, arrested and found guilty in three sham trials. The next day, we sadly and uncomfortably considered the excruciating pain that Jesus endured during his death on a cross. As many know, but some do not, the word “excruciating” is rooted in the Latin and tied to the manner of Jesus’ death.

This is the official etymology from the Oxford English Dictionary:

Etymology:  < Latin excruciāt- participial stem of excruciāre , < ex- intensive (see ex- prefix1 1b) + cruciāre to torment, < cruc-em cross.

Yes, Jesus’ death became the model for a word meaning agonizing pain or anguish.

All of that misery and sadness turns completely today as we joyfully celebrate Jesus’ triumphant resurrection and fulfillment of scripture.

I’m not someone who typically enjoys being called to chant some phrase during worship. For example, I cringe every time someone on my church’s worship team exclaims, “God is good,” knowing that the rest of us are expected to reply, “”All the time.” It seems too forced.

The church does have a history of chanting, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed” on Easter. I won’t quibble about the value of recognizing that statement as an expression of belief on this most special Christian holiday. I would say, though, that I don’t say those words like the fact of Jesus’ resurrection is breaking news.

We know it. We’ve grown up believing it. Just like Christmas celebrating Jesus’ birth, Easter is an annual celebration of his miraculous fulfillment of prophesy and God’s affirmation of Jesus’ righteousness.

This conclusion of Holy Week reminds me deeply of what caused the need for Jesus’ death (our sin and inability to atone for it ourselves) and what his resurrection promises believers (the right to be called children of God).

That’s not news; but it IS “Good News.”

Happy Easter!

‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Movie Quotes Ring True After the Florida School Shooting

February 15, 2018 /

Maybe it was weird for me to choose last night of all nights to finally watch the award-winning, but extremely violent movie, “Hacksaw Ridge.” But in the wake of the news of yet another tragic school shooting in Florida, two quotes from the movie almost shouted at me as I heard them.

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. — Company B Soldier: [Quoting the Greek historian Herodotus]

No one who hears of the shooting rampage yesterday by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz should brush off the assertion that we are, indeed, at war. We are at war against violence, untreated mental illness and the weapons that make it so easy to exact carnage on dozens of innocent lives.

The Associated Press reported that Cruz, an “orphaned 19-year-old with a troubled past and his own AR-15 rifle was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder Thursday morning following the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in five years.”

I’m not anti-gun ownership by licensed, trained and responsible citizens. At least I support ownership of handguns and hunting rifles. But I do not support the sale and availability of semi-automatic rifles. To anyone who wants to state that criminals will continue to find ways to purchase semi-automatic weapons, I can only point out that Cruz reportedly purchased his AR-15 rifle legally. It HAS to be harder than that!

Violence is the evil that we must fight. Yes, “Hacksaw Ridge” included graphic violence that was difficult to watch and hear. It wasn’t easier this morning to hear the stories of two high school children who witnessed the Florida school shootings up-close and personal.

Student Samantha Grady choked up on “The Today Show” when she was asked how her classmate, who was shot as they hid in a school classroom, was doing. “She didn’t make it,” Grady blurted out between tears. A boy interviewed on the local news described walking along a school hallway and seeing two girls on the ground, dead, holding hands.

In “Hacksaw Ridge,” the main character, Desmond Doss, is a conscientious objector who saved 75 men in Okinawa, during the bloodiest battle of World War II, without firing a single shot. Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist, believed that the war was just but killing was wrong. He was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon. He became the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during WWII.

Doss was misunderstood and harassed by his military leaders and fellow soldiers. But when it was time to act to save lives, Doss acted with more courage than anyone could ever expect.

I believe that his statement, made during a military trial launched as a result of his refusal to bear arms, is especially poignant for us today.

With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.— Desmond Doss

Concept image of patriotism, beliefs, and military service. God and country. Bible is open to 23th Psalm.

God and Country

May 24, 2015 /

At a time when the

At a time when the “separation of church and state” has challenged the rights of soldiers and military chaplains to openly share their faith, what will the new “rallying cry” of our nation be, once “God and Country” is removed from the national consciousness?

Is the United States that exists on the 2015 Memorial Day Holiday fundamentally different than the country that I, my parents and grandparents knew as young adults?

If we were tasked with communicating the meaning of this holiday and its significance to our culture and national well-being, would we craft radically different messages depending on our racial, religious, political and historical viewpoints?

What does “God and Country”–the rallying cry in past generations—mean today?

The Memorial Day Holiday began three years after the end of the Civil Way. It was called “Decoration Day,” and was an organized event to place flowers and small U.S. flags on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers. After World War I, the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all U.S. wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday, and the congressional act placed the holiday on the last Monday in May.

Since then in my lifetime, we’ve had contentious wars that split the loyalties of Americans who either supported or opposed our involvement in military actions. Opinions remain divided over the necessity to have risked our military in Viet Nam, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan and other global hotspots.

That division has been exasperated by people who link U.S. military aggression to geopolitical manipulations based on, or directed at, religious groups. One example that I’ve seen expressed: “George W. Bush was a Christian president who led us into the Iraq War to subdue Muslims.” Is that true? More to my point, is that the entire story—even if that statement could be accurate?

The United States that was formed more than two centuries ago by a conglomeration of primarily Judeo-Christian leaders and fighting men has become home to a much different mix of citizens who represent a variety of racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and belief systems.

A change of population naturally introduces ideas, beliefs and opinions that challenge the “status quo.” I consider that healthy, and I have always supported and appreciated our nation’s fierce defense of individual liberty, freedom of speech and the right to be represented, even when you are not the majority.

I’ve read that World War II was considered a “just war” that pitted God-respecting nations against regimes that considered their leaders to be “gods”—at least above the people who served them.

More recent wars have raised the question whether God has been used as a reason to wage war.

On this Memorial Day, consider what will happen when (and I mean “when,” not “if”) the United States is attacked by an aggressive force originating from outside of our borders. Are we U.S. citizens now too divided because of our differences to fight together?

Is “God and Country” now too contentious or outdated a rallying cry to be effective?

What should our national rallying cry be?

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